Newly-elected Detroit City Council President Pro-Tem George Cushingberry Jr. was pulled over Tuesday for a routine traffic stop, where officers found open alcohol, a strong odor of marijuana and marijuana in his vehicle.

The councilman refused to get out of his vehicle when a Detroit police officer suspected he had been drinking and driving. The officer smelled alcohol and found the marijuana in Cushingberry's vehicle.

A Detroit police patrol supervisor was called to the scene. The supervisor allowed Cushingberry to drive away.

The supervisor's actions have prompted an internal investigation by Detroit Police Internal Affairs, said Detroit Police Chief James Craig.

Sources say Cushingberry was leaving a strip club when he was pulled over.

Detroit police say Cushingberry almost hit a police car when he was leaving the strip club and that's why the officer pulled him over.

Cushingberry was ticketed for not signaling, the Detroit Police Department and Cushingberry told Local 4.

Cushingberry spoke with Local 4 Thursday night during an interview and disputed several parts of the report. He began with the allegation he was at the strip club.

"I was not coming out of any strip club. I was coming out of the Penthouse Lounge, which is one of the places I've campaigned in all year," Cushingberry said.

He also said his passenger has a medical marijuana license and was up front with officers at the scene.

"The reason he smelled marijuana was because he had it on him and it's his medicine," Cushingberry said.

As far as the report of a liquor bottle in the car, Cushingberry said there was an explanation for that as well.

"When the patrol supervisor got there, he looked in the back. There was only an empty bottle that had been there for almost a week, when I was at a previous party that I intended to throw away," Cushingberry said.

Detroit Police Chief James Craig did not go into details when he told Local 4 about his department's investigation.

"Once my administration became aware of it, we initiated an investigation into the nature of the stop," Craig said.

Stay with Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit.com for more information as it becomes available.

Cushingberry will appear on "Flashpoint" this coming Sunday. It will be broadcast at 10 a.m.

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